


Better Than Nothing

by WellTemperedClavier



Category: Daria (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29566131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WellTemperedClavier/pseuds/WellTemperedClavier
Summary: An older Trent Lane finally finds his calling.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Better Than Nothing

He'd wanted to be a poet, once. He'd wanted to use his voice and guitar like a hammer and chisel to break through the lies, to reach the cruel but beautiful truth at the heart of the world.   
  
And that's what he did. For years and years. At dive bars, dingy clubs, and the odd Bar Mitzvah or two, he'd sung the truth.   
  
No one really cared. Used to be he took pride in that. They'd ignore him the way they ignored Morrison, Curtis, and Cobain. Truth hurt, and the squares couldn't stand that. But the passing years revealed what his words never managed to. The truth was that he didn't really know what to do with his life and that Mystik Spiral was spiraling down the drain. He felt it as he sung during the Spiral's last gig.  
  
"You're choppin' off my nose,  
To spite my face!  
Ow! My nose!  
Ow! My face!"  
  
Seriously? He'd almost started laughing at how stupid it was. Truth? This wasn't truth. This was adolescent bullshit gone on for too long. A joke.  
  
So he hung up his guitar. Work at Payday was tough but at least it kept him occupied during the long days. Cheap beer and TV made the nights easier. Life wasn't great, but not bad so long as he didn't think about it.   
  
Not long after his thirtieth birthday, his rent past due and his bank account empty, he ran into the phenomenon for the first time. A bunch of college kids pouring out of a bar, faces lighting up when they saw him.  
  
"Hey, it's that dude from the video!"  
  
Trent had just stared as they laughed even more.   
  
"Can you sing it? Please?"  
  
Trent had backed out. Figured the kids were drunk.  
  
Then it happened again. And again. When someone started chanting the words to "Ow! My Face!" he realized it wasn't a case of mistaken identity.  
  
Google explained it, like always. Someone had taken a video of his last miserable performance and uploaded it to YouTube. From there, someone else had taken a screenshot of the video showing Trent with mouth open and eyes glazed, captioning it with the song title.  
  
"Ow! My Face!" made the rounds. Folks posted it after sick online burns, as reactions to backyard wrestling videos, Sick Sad World stories involving facial disfigurement, and more. Sure enough, some of them discovered the actual song.   
  
Trent, thirty-seven years of age, flecks of white in his thinning black hair and his gut round from too much beer, stepped onto the stage with his guitar. Jesse was next to him, hair cut short so that he looked like the accountant he'd become. Newcomers filled in for Max and Nicholas. Max had fallen to drugs, while Nicholas watched the concert at the hospital where he was being treated for leukemia—doctors said he'd probably make it.   
  
Before them, thousands and thousands of faces. All of them cheering and laughing.  
  
They came for the memes, a whole concert's worth. Weezer headed it all, naturally, and Rivers would be coming on after Trent to again play Toto's "Africa". Rick Astley was hidden somewhere, ready to let fans know he'd never give them up. And so on.  
  
"We're Mystik Spiral," he said. "But we're thinking about changing the name—"  
  
At the signal, Jesse flung out his hand and fake-hit Trent on the nose. He staggered back as if hit. Straightening up he looked out on the crowd, and the song started.  
  
"I'm glad you're happy,  
Watching my pain!  
Burning crop circles,  
On my soul's waves of grain!"  
  
Slowly but surely, the snarl on his face turned into a big goofy grin as the audience sang along.  
  
No one in the crowd cared about the truth. Which was fine by Trent. The only truth he knew was that life was hard, and that sometimes, his dumb lyrics made it a little easier.

**The End**


End file.
